1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an image reading apparatus, and more particularly to an image reading apparatus capable of separating pages of images.
2. Related Art
In a conventional sheet-fed image processing apparatus, a paper sensor has to be provided to determine whether the document is to be or has been transported past a certain specific position in order to provide the function of automatically scanning multiple pages of documents. For example, an electrical, mechanical or optical sensor is disposed on a passageway to sense whether the document is to be transported past the position corresponding to the scan line of the scanning module, or to sense whether the document has been transported past the position corresponding to the scan line of the scanning module. The neighboring two pages of images may be separated according to the sensed information obtained.
However, the provision of the paper sensor usually increases the apparatus cost. The mechanical sensor needs the sufficient long separation gap. If the separation gap is too short, the second document may touch the mechanical sensor before the mechanical sensor senses the separation of the first document from this sensor. Thus, the mechanical sensor cannot judge that the first document has left and the second document has come.
It is therefore a subject of the invention to provide an image reading apparatus capable of separating pages of images with the low cost and without the large separation gap.